INTERVIEW: Rochdale Vs Posh Preview

Peterborough United travel to Rochdale tomorrow for their first away game of the Sky Bet League One season.

Posh started the 2018/19 campaign with a 2-1 home victory over Bristol Rovers, while Rochdale won by the same scoreline at recently relegated Burton Albion.

Ahead of tomorrow’s game, we spoke to a Rochdale fan page, getting the lowdown on their club, and seeing what they think of Peterborough.

Q: What are your hopes for Rochdale this season?

A: My money is on a top ten position. Last season was the first time where we’ve finished in the bottom half under a full season of Keith Hill. For me, he’s a miracle worker as a manager and there’s no doubting Spotland is his spiritual home. There’s probably a hundred different reasons why we finished where we did last season, but our form from January onwards was enough to overturn a twelve point deficit to stay up and that bounce from last season seems to still be in effect. I’m always wary of predicting a top six finish because if push comes to shove in the January transfer window, our opponents will be able to spend to strengthen whilst we’ll be holding on to our players. However, we’ve tightened up the defence, added guile to the midfield and should be playing more football in the opposition half to allow us to score more than we did last time.

Q: What do you think Posh can achieve this year?

A: Posh always strike me as one of those teams that on paper should be up there but never are. Look at last season, you had Marriott and Maddison who must have been two of the best players in the division, yet finished ninth and a long way off the Play-Offs in terms of points. I’ve always felt that managerial appointments at Peterborough have you let you down, with each appointment being a reaction to the previous one. You’ll get one manager who seems to be a modern appointment to work under the Macanthony/Fry partnership, and then when that doesn’t work, attention turns to a more old school manager. The balance has yet to be found. Evans should do well for you. He’s a bit of a pantomime villain in the lower league, but his record is as good as anyone’s. Looking at your summer signings, I’d be disappointed if I wasn’t making a serious push for the top two if I was a Posh fan.

Q: Which Rochdale players do Posh need to look out for?

A: Ian Henderson is the one. When he’s not trying to chop Posh players in two to earn himself a four match ban at the most crucial time of the season, he’s the talisman who makes us tick. Quite how we managed to pick him up on a free transfer from Colchester, I’ve no idea but without question, he’s been our best player over the past five years and arguably one of our best ever. He’s 33 now but he’s still got many years left in him given how he has looked after himself.

Q: Which Posh players are you most worried about?

A: Where do we start? If we worried about one particular player, there are plenty of others that can cause us problems. I am very surprised you hung on to Maddison but he might end up being one of those loan with a view to a permanent transfers that cheat the transfer window. Cummings on paper has bags of potential, and Toney seems a cracking signing given how strikers usually fare at London Road.

Q: How do you think your summer transfer window went?

A: General consensus is that Dale supporters are very happy with how things went. We had the return of David Perkins who helped win the League with Wigan last season. He’s 36 now but he’s added exactly what we were lacking last season and he’ll be a wise head among some very young but talented midfielders who’ll be around him.

Q: Obviously you signed Brad Inman from us, are you a fan of him?

A: If you’d asked me six months into last season, I’d have said that I’d happily drive him back to Peterborough myself. In hindsight, I don’t know whether it came to him not being mentally over his injury or not but he didn’t seem up for it at all. But the second half of the season made him one of our most important players, and he was crucial to us staying up last season. I’m starting to think that he’s one of those players who will excel in a good side and fingers crossed, we’ll be much better this time round. I think he’ll end up being one of our most important players.

Q: Score Prediction for tomorrow?

A: 2-2 including an injury time equaliser from us.

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